Page 40 - ASM Book 9/2020

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FCommunications in Times of Emergency
ast communications in colonial America became more urgent in the years prior to the American Revolution. Pen, paper and messengers on horseback were the only ways to send messages
to distant places. As the dispute between the Americans and the British government grew, a faster system was needed.
The Alarm and Muster
System was an improved
version over the old method. Church bells, drum rolls, alarm guns, bonfires and trumpet calls provided speedier communications among the towns.
The midnight rides of Paul Revere, William Dawes and others on April 19, 1775, activated the Alarm and Muster System which rapidly alerted thousands of Massachusetts’s militia to confront the Redcoats as they marched on Lexington and Concord and back to Boston.
Joseph Plumb Martin
JYoung Patriot Fought 7 Years in Continental Army
oseph Plumb Martin was one of only a small number of men who fought during the entire American Revolution. The 15-year old first enlisted in the Connecticut militia where he served six months before joining the Continental Army. He participated in battles and faced hardships from New England to Virginia during the seven years (1776-1783) that he fought for America’s independence.
Martin began his service as a private and ended the war as a sergeant.
Born in Becket, Massachusetts, in 1760, and at the age of seven, he was sent to live with his affluent grandfather. There he received a good education.
He kept a diary during the war. In 1830, at the age of
70, Martin published his first-hand account of his life as a Continental soldier. It was titled A Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier. His accounts of battles and living conditions are very descriptive. The diary is still available today.
George Washington often referred to his men in the Continental Army as “my brave fellows.”
He died in Maine on May 2, 1850, at the age of 89.